Report on work in progress: “Towards a new science of the human”

A multidisciplinary and global study of the evolutionary process of the universe in general and mankind in particular is proposed, drawing from both modern science, approached by taking into consideration its various interdependent aspects; and the study of western and eastern ancient traditions, which prove to have a common foundation that is the comprehension and the control of the evolutionary process itself.

Such a study will lead to the compilation of a “Corpus Unus” of the new science of the human, a science which does not belong to a race, a culture or an age, but is specific to the human being as such.

Such a science will imply the exploration of mankind and of the evolutionary process, and applying the results in a pragmatic way to the betterment of human beings, society, and universe.     

The structure of maladaptive personality traits in childhood: a step toward an integrative developmental perspective for DSM-V

The present study describes the construction of a taxonomy of trait-related symptoms in childhood, the Dimensional Personality Symptom Item Pool (DIPSI), and examines the replicability of the taxonomy's higher order structure across maternal ratings of referred (N = 205) and nonreferred (N = 242) children and self-ratings of adolescents (N = 453). The DIPSI's 4 higher order factors--that is, Emotional Instability, Disagreeableness, Introversion, and Compulsivity--showed clear correspondence with the dimensions of personality pathology found in adulthood (Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology-Basic Questionnaire; W. J. Livesley, 1990; Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality; L. A. Clark, 1993). These 4 factors can be further organized into 2 superfactors, representing Internalizing and Externalizing Traits, demonstrating empirical and conceptual relationships with psychopathology models in childhood and adulthood. The implications for the assessment and conceptualization of early trait pathology are discussed in the context of an integrative developmental perspective on the construction of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth Edition.     

Unawareness of Deficits in Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias: Operational Definitions and Empirical Findings

Individuals with dementia frequently demonstrate decreased awareness of their cognitive difficulties. Empirical research examining this phenomenon has addressed a number of aspects of unawareness in Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, including occurrence in various disorders; possible neuroanatomical substrates; relationship to general cognitive functioning, executive functioning, and psychiatric symptomatology; and progression over time and across cognitive domains. Limitations of the current research literature are discussed, particularly issues surrounding operational definitions of unawareness and the current limited understanding of the role of the frontal lobes. A number of conclusions regarding unawareness that appear to be supported by the current body of empirical research and possible future directions are discussed.     

Validating Personnel Selection: A Process Model for Research and Practice

This article highlights the need for a clearer conceptual appreciation of the relationships among and between predictors and criteria, and for a better understanding of measurement issues in selection. A process model of selection is outlined that includes recent research on the changing relationships of ability to performance at different stages of skill acquisition, the interaction between type of task and validity, the role of motivational constructs in the measurement and validation process, and the reciprocally interacting influences of work experience and individual characteristics. Comment is offered on issues such as general versus specific abilities, the ‘big five’in personality, aptitude by treatment or training interactions and maximal versus typical performance. Measurement issues are discussed throughout, but particularly in relation to the assessment process.     

Civil law regulation and criminal enforcement of mandatory vaccination policies: A comparative aspect

One of the most important tasks of any state is to provide everyone, including the child, with the opportunity for a healthy and fulfilling life. Processes of immunisation through vaccination are considered most appropriate for the prevention of infectious diseases. The purpose of this study is to understand the legal regulation of immunisation of the population and to give it a legal assessment, to review the legal acts on vaccination in different countries of the world and to identify the legal tendencies of resolving conflicts in the field of vaccination on the basis of court decisions. As a result of the research the prospective directions of work of civil and criminal regulation of vaccination of children, regulation of the right to education for children who have not been vaccinated, the lawsuits, petitions and court decisions regarding the population response to vaccinations were analysed. The authors of the study conclude on the methods of introducing mandatory vaccination of children, the development of new criminal legislation to protect rights and freedoms.     

Phone follow up to families of COVID-19 patients who died at the hospital: families' grief reactions and clinical psychologists' roles

A proportion of persons affected by coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) die and do so in extraordinary circumstances. This can make grief management extremely challenging for families. The Clinical Psychology unit of an Italian hospital offered a bereavement follow-up call to such families. This study aimed to explore the families' experiences and needs collected during these calls, and the role that the psychologists played through the call. A total of 246 families were called over 3 months. Multiple qualitative methods included: (i) written reports of the calls with relatives of patients who died at the hospital for COVID-19; (ii) qualitative semi-structured interviews with psychologists involved in the calls; (iii) observation of psychologists' peer group discussions. A thematic analysis was conducted. Six themes emerged: without death rituals, solitary, unexpected, unfair, unsafe, coexisting with other stressors. Families' reactions were perceived by psychologists as close to a traumatic grief. Families' needs ranged from finding alternative rituals to giving meaning and expressing different emotions. The psychologists played both a social-institutional and a psychological-human role through the calls (e.g., they cured disrupted communication or validated feelings and choices). This study highlighted the potential of traumatic grief of families of COVID-19 victims, and provided indications for supporting them within the space of a short phone call.